


A Tear in the Fabric

by Cold_Bolt



Category: My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Gen, Minor Violence, minor blood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-18
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-18 21:07:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12396237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cold_Bolt/pseuds/Cold_Bolt
Summary: "You know... of all the things I was expecting to see today, a teenager with pony ears wasn't exactly high on the list."Well sure - strangeness is relative. For some people, it might look something like that. For Sunset Shimmer, it would probably include getting vacuumed up by the mirror portal, marooned on an unknown world, and having to rescue her friends from its furthest reaches. Then again, it might also include finding out that there's a lot more at stake here than the lives of seven teenagers.It all depends on your point of view, really.





	1. 01: Go with the Flow

“Ugh, what’s the holdup?”

Warm afternoon sunlight shone down on the grounds of Canterlot High as Rainbow Dash leaned against the proud Wondercolt statue out front, crossing her arms with a huff.

“Sorry…” Twilight Sparkle spent a moment adjusting her glasses before resuming her task. “These screws must have come loose while I was carrying it around in my bag all day.”

Sunset Shimmer rolled her eyes. “Chill, Rainbow. Building unique magical inventions is  _probably_  harder than she makes it look.”

Applejack quirked an eyebrow. “What’d you say this gizmo of yours was for, again?”

Twilight fiddled with the hinge on the small device she’d spent the past several minutes repairing. “After that incident with Juniper Montage, I thought it would be a good idea to have a sensor for detecting magical artifacts and anomalies ahead of time so we’d be more prepared to deal with them. I just needed to make sure this one didn’t… well, you know.” Closing the device, she lowered her hands into her lap and averted her gaze from the group at large, clearly unwilling to finish her thought.

“We know.” Fluttershy crouched beside Twilight and gently put a hand on her shoulder. “And you know we believe in you, don’t you?”

Smiling weakly, Twilight put her hand over Fluttershy’s. “Thanks… that means a lot, it really does. Thinking about the past still stings a little sometimes, that’s all.”

Sunset smirked. “I know the feeling.”

“Is it ready? Is it ready?” Pinkie Pie hopped in place, her flailing arms reminding Twilight of the needle on a particularly excitable seismometer.

One twist later, Twilight pocketed her screwdriver and held up the device. “It is now!”

“Great! Sooo…” Pinkie scratched her head. “What now?”

Twilight tapped the surface of the sensor’s diminutive interface, causing it to light up. “Well… now it needs something to - oh!”

Rarity blinked. “What is it, darling?”

“It’s picking something up! Something nearby, almost right behind me, like…” Twilight slowly turned around. “…the mirror portal. Duh.”

“I have an idea.” Sunset snapped her fingers. “Why don’t we see how well it keeps track of  _our_  magic?”

Twilight fiddled with her glasses. “Oh, that would be great! We’ll need a variety of tests to determine its precision, sensitivity, range, and - ”

“I’ll go first! Watch me!”

Without warning, Rainbow became a blur circling around the statue for a few seconds before taking off toward a nearby row of trees and disappearing. “Betcha can’t tell where I’m hiding!”

Twilight stared at the sensor in her hands for a moment. “Second from the left,” she declared.

Rainbow poked her head out from behind the leaves of the tree in question. “Hey, not bad.”

On the base of the statue behind them, the mirror portal shimmered.

“Ooh, me next!” Pinkie dipped a hand into her poofy hair and rummaged around for a moment. Having located her target, she grinned as she produced a small container of confectionery sprinkles, from which she dispensed a handful into her open palm. With a flourish, she twirled in place and flung the now-glowing sprinkles into the air above, where they ignited and spat sparks of all colors every which way, looking like a miniature firework show.

“Very good, Pinkie!” Twilight fiddled with a pair of knobs on the side of the sensor. “I’m picking up both the flight arc and energy output.”

The surface of the portal rippled like a calm lake disturbed by a stone.

“Uh.” Applejack pointed her thumb at the portal. “Is it supposed to be doing that?”

Sunset’s gaze followed along, causing her to scratch her head. “Doing what?”

Applejack glanced at the portal again, ready to point out what should have been obvious… only to find it looking the same as ever. “Oh. Uh… hmm.” She hesitated for a moment before shaking her head. “Maybe I imagined it.”

Sunset gave the mirror a suspicious stare for a few seconds before turning back toward Twilight, who was busily tracking a large levitating crystal courtesy of Rarity.

“…and by adjusting the frequency, I can even trace it to its point of origin. This is excellent!” Twilight grinned as she stared at the sensor’s output screen. “Great work, girls!”

The sky above began to darken.

“Aw, we didn’t do much…” Fluttershy twirled a bit of hair around her finger. “You’re the one who built it, after all.”

“Yeah, don’t give away the credit.” Sunset threw the gentlest of punches at Twilight’s upper arm.

“I knew it! Quick, look!”

Applejack gripped her hat with one hand and pointed accusingly at the portal with the other, its surface swirling unnervingly in red and black.

Sunset gritted her teeth. “I’m… pretty sure that’s not normal.”

“I don’t think that is either,” Rainbow warned, pointing straight up.

The same pattern on the surface of the portal was also visible in the sky. Seven necks craned to watch the swirling void expanding above them as sky-colored fragments broke away from its edges and faded from sight as they fell.

Twilight trembled, clutching the magic sensor for dear life. “The… the sky is… cracking…?”

“Come on!” Sunset tore her eyes away from the bizarre sight and turned to her friends. “We can figure out what’s going on once we’re at a safe distance!”

“One  _minor_  problem with that plan, dear…” Rarity pointed worryingly at her feet, the ground sliding by beneath her as an unseen force seemed to draw them all toward the mirror portal.

“Rrrgh…!” Try as she might, the faster Rainbow ran against it, the stronger the portal’s pull on her became. “It… feels like it’s… pulling on the magic itself…!”

“Whoa, whoa, WAUGH!” Pinkie’s arms were a flailing blur once again as she lost her balance and effectively fell sideways toward the portal… only to be stopped suddenly by a large hovering crystal.

“I’ve… got you… Pinkie…” Sweat dripped from Rarity’s outstretched arms as she fought to maintain her hold on her crystalline projection, but it was more than she could bear for long; with a pair of terrified screams, the crystal dissolved and the two of them tumbled through the portal out of sight.

Fluttershy wrapped her arms around herself, gripping her sides as her eyes went wide with shock. “Pinkie! Rarity…! W-What do we do…?”

“Isn’t it obvious? We go in after them!” Without any hint of a second thought, Rainbow spun on her heel and dashed for the portal, vanishing in an instant.

“Don’t need to tell me twice! C'mon, everyone!” One hand still securing her hat, Applejack gestured for the others to follow and took her own mighty leap into the void.

“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my - waaaaaah!” Fluttershy’s scream seemed to echo as she finally lost her footing, reaching out to Sunset and Twilight in desperation as she too vanished from sight.

The two remaining girls stared into the portal as the void above continued its inexorable expansion.

Slowly, Sunset reached out and took Twilight’s hand. Though their staring lasted only a moment longer, it felt like an eternity had passed before they turned toward one another.

“Whatever this is… we’ll get through it together.” Fear had long since drained the color from Sunset’s face, but she gave Twilight the best reassuring smile she could manage all the same. “Like we always do.”

Twilight took the deepest breath she had taken in a long time and nodded.

The two stepped forward together. As if on cue, the portal’s pull strengthened, yanking the girls off their feet and drawing them into the void as the last of the world around them shattered away.

Though the emptiness around them pulsated with an eerie red glow, none of it seemed to reach Sunset or Twilight themselves, shrouded in darkness as they were. Their still-clasped hands were all the reassurance they got that anyone else was there - if their friends were anywhere nearby, they were indistinguishable from the void itself.

To Sunset’s increasing horror, she soon felt another pull from the void suddenly wrench Twilight’s hand from hers… and though she cried out in fear, no sound left her throat.

The swirling void seemed almost to be pressing against Sunset’s mind as her senses began to dull. Direction and motion soon became meaningless; whether she was floating, falling, drifting, or something else entirely, she neither knew nor cared. It likely didn’t make much of a difference anyway.

One final thought ran through her consciousness before it, too, seemed to fade into the darkness itself.

_Please let them be okay…_


	2. 02: Seeing Stars

The first thing Sunset Shimmer noticed as she awoke was the dull ache that seemed to permeate every muscle in her body. Flat on her back and eyes still closed, she wrestled with her frazzled brain to take stock of the situation.

A cool breeze blowing by and the texture of earth beneath her suggested she was very likely outside. With a grunt of effort, Sunset propped herself up on her elbows and opened her eyes, which spent several seconds focusing in the dim light. A cursory glance around revealed that it was night, briefly giving her pause to wonder how long she had been unconscious after getting dragged into the portal.

The portal…

She shuddered as the memories came flooding back all at once. It happened so quickly, too quickly for her to process, and thinking about it was making her already aching head hurt even more. What made it go berserk like that? Why didn’t it send her to Equestria like usual? Where were -

“Twilight!” Sunset scrambled to her feet, blood going cold as the realization hit her. “Rarity! Pinkie! Applejack!”

Her cries were met with silence.

Sunset’s mind raced. If she was alive, the rest of them must be too, right? Granted, that was assuming this wasn’t some sort of afterlife, but she certainly felt alive if the soreness was anything to go by; it felt like she had run a marathon right after bench-pressing twice her weight.

In an effort to stay calm, she distracted herself with taking a moment to properly examine her surroundings. She had awoken in what looked like a small impact crater several feet wide, loose dirt scattered about its edge. Beyond it was a field of tall grasses stretching as far as the dim light let her see, interspersed with the occasional cluster of trees. High above, set in a sky dotted with stars, an object that looked something like a glowing white ring cast a gentle light over the landscape. In one direction, she could just barely make out the outline of a jagged mountain range on the horizon; in the other sat a plain dirt road on which tire tracks were visible.

A road! Her heart leapt - that meant this place was inhabited! With any luck, she could find a way to get the locals to help her find her friends, assuming they had a way to communicate; it seemed unlikely she would be able to just talk to them. Perhaps Fluttershy’s ability would help? Assuming Sunset could find her, that is…

She shivered suddenly, her train of thought derailed as the strangest sensation struck her. It was subtle but still distracting, like the fusion of a pinched nerve and a spine chill, causing her mind to concoct the image of a bug carrying an ice cube up her back.

Before she could deduce the origin of the sensation, however, it faded just in time for her to catch a glimpse of headlights from an oncoming car somewhere down the road. Her heart skipped a beat - should she hide? Wave to get the driver’s attention? Hold her ground and wait to see what happens?

The car slowed to a stop on the far side of the road, giving her a better look at it - it reminded her of military vehicles she had seen in documentaries of an old war from over half a century ago, but it bore no obvious insignia. A moment passed before the door opened, a humanoid figure barely visible within.

Sunset stood still, watching the figure suspiciously. Even as they leaned out of the door, only their outline was visible in the shadow of the car; despite this, she could easily tell they were paying her rapt attention. The figure hesitated for several seconds before fiddling with a small object in their hands: a flashlight, judging by the audible click and the beam of light now aimed directly at her.

Sunset squinted at the sudden brightness, shielding her eyes with her hand. “You want to point that somewhere else, maybe?”

The figure lowered the flashlight beam… and spoke.

“Well, I dunno what I expected, but I don’t think this was it.”

The figure climbed the rest of the way out of the car and approached slowly, finally giving Sunset a better look at him. He stood marginally taller than her, with dark hair, light skin, and a strange-looking scar covering his cheek, but what stood out the most was his outfit: a tunic of medieval-looking armor covered in metal scales, with accompanying gloves, boots, and even a cape. It contrasted rather bizarrely with the car behind him, giving her the impression that he had just left some sort of Middle Ages reenactment.

Sunset shook her head to get her thoughts back on track. “Expected from what?”

“A red light visible from the next town over just shot out of the mountains and landed… well, probably about here,” the man explained, gesturing at the shallow crater in which Sunset now stood. “Wouldn’t have guessed it was gonna turn out to be a teenage girl with furry ears and weird clothes. That’s a new one on me,” he added with a smirk.

“Furry - ? Wait…”

Sunset reflexively reached atop her head, where sure enough, her pony ears sat proud and true. A quick check over her shoulder confirmed that her hair was now past knee-length, tied at the end in a cute little ponytail. “But… how did I pony up while I was out cold? I didn’t know that was possible… and how has it not worn off yet…?”

“Uh. ‘Pony up’?” the man echoed. “Yeah, I feel like I’m missing some context here.”

Sunset gave an impatient huff. “Sorry, I don’t have time to explain. My name is Sunset Shimmer, and I need to find my friends as quickly as possible. Have you seen anyone else around here?”

“Uh… right.” The man stared a moment longer as if to process this. “Alexander Abrams. Call me 'Tank’ though; it’s easier.” He put a hand on his hip and leaned slightly. “As for your question, there’s no one out here at the moment but us as far as I’m aware. Are there supposed to be more of you?”

Sunset sighed. “Yeah… yeah, there are. I guess I should’ve figured the portal would separate us just to make things more difficult…”

“Wait, so you  _did_  come through the portal?” Tank’s eyes widened as he glanced backward. “You know, if that’s true…”

“I mean, more accurately we got pulled through it against our will, but yeah.” Sunset leaned to one side, looking over Tank’s shoulder suspiciously. “Does that mean something to you?”

Tank turned back to face her and jerked his thumb at the car. “It means I know someone who just might be able to help you, if you’ll trust me.”

Sunset hesitated. Could she trust him? It didn’t take long for her to recall a way to know for sure. “Take off your glove and give me your hand for a minute.”

Tank looked perplexed for several seconds, but shrugged as he pulled off one of his gloves and held out his hand toward Sunset, who stepped forward to take it in hers with no particular ceremony. As she did, her eyes took on a magical white glow.

“…”

The spell lasted for only a moment, but it was all Sunset needed. Satisfied, she let go of Tank’s hand. “Well, it doesn’t  _seem_  like you have any ulterior motives, so I guess it’s safe enough to believe you.”

“Uh.” Tank scratched at his scarred cheek with his ungloved hand. “So was that a spell just now, or what? What did it even do?”

“Oh, not much.” Sunset crossed her arms. “Although now I know that you’re talking about a girl named Penny Richter and her uncle Darian Mobius who work at a research facility called Event Horizon specializing in portal study and extradimensional theory that’s about an eight-hour drive from here, but you don’t really mind because you were on your way back to your home town anyway to visit your folks and say hi to an old friend, and this place is only a short detour.”

For several seconds, all Tank could do was stare incredulously at the bizarre girl before him. “…Uhh?”

“My magic lets me read people’s memories,” Sunset explained. “It’s pretty handy for knowing when they’re telling the truth.”

“…Huh.” Tank continued looking entirely unsure of how to react. “Okay, so. 'Sunset,’ was it?”

“Yeah?”

“Let me be real with you for a minute here. This whole thing is pretty compelling so far, but I’m still not totally convinced it’s not some kind of prank.” He scratched at his scar again. “That said? Whether this 'mind reading’ thing of yours…” He wiggled his fingers to emphasize the point. “…is real or fake? It was pretty impressive either way. Like, credit where it’s due and all.”

Sunset smirked, chuckling to herself. “Well, the honesty’s nice, at least. Reminds me of - !”

Stopping mid-sentence, Sunset’s heart tripped on a beat as a familiar tingling-chilling sensation struck her… and this time, she knew instinctively what it meant.

“Uh. You feeling alright there?” Tank quirked an eyebrow. “I’m no expert on alien teenager biology, so…”

Sunset’s voice was barely above a whisper. “We’re being watched.”


	3. 03: Trust Me

Tank subtly lowered his head as he glanced around, slowly slipping his hand back into the glove. “I don’t see anything. Are you sure? Is this another spell of yours?”

“I’m not sure how I know…” Sunset’s hands clenched into fists as she looked Tank square in the eye. “…but there’s one person besides us nearby. Thirty feet away at most… and whoever it is, they’re not friendly.”

Tank took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. When I signal, run to the trunk of the car. It’s unlocked, so just pull up on the handle and it’ll open. My weapons are in there, right on top - grab them as quickly as you can, alright?”

Sunset nodded.

The two held their breath as a cloud casually drifted its way in front of the light source up above, darkening the scene until they could barely still see one another.

“Move!”

In an instant, Sunset took off like a bullet toward the rear of the car, catching only a brief glimpse of an unknown figure emerging from the tall grass behind Tank as she ran.

BLAM

Adrenaline surged through Sunset as a gunshot rang out behind her, causing her to stumble and reach out for the car to steady herself. To her relief, it was immediately followed by the sound of struggling - it seemed her impromptu ally wasn’t out of commission yet. Undaunted, she scrambled for the trunk and yanked upward on the handle, causing the hatch to open and reveal…

“A - A sword…?!”

Sunset stared in disbelief at the anachronistic sight. Sitting atop a pair of old duffel bags was a sword in a leather sheath and a large, fairly plain-looking kite shield. This couldn’t possibly be what he was talking about, could it? A world with cars and guns in it, and someone still fights with a shield and sword?

Another gunshot snapped her back to attention as she gripped the weapon with both hands and yanked it out of the trunk with a grunt of effort; it was heavier than she expected, but not unmanageable. There would be no carrying the shield at the same time, though, so this would have to do.

Rounding the corner once again, she caught sight of two figures fighting up close… but in the darkness, how was she supposed to tell them apart? She needed light, and she needed it now!

As though in reply, a white glow began shining from within the sheath in her hands. Curious, Sunset wrapped her hand around the hilt and slowly drew the blade, which shone so brightly it almost seemed to wash out the night around her. Now, Tank and his assailant were not only perfectly visible, but so distracted by the shining blade that they both paused to stare at it.

But of course this wasn’t the only thing it could do, right?

Consumed by her curiosity, Sunset let the sheath fall to the ground, the better to grip the hilt with both hands. Lifting it high over her head, she locked eyes with the unknown assailant and swung at the air in front of her.

“Haah!”

A bolt of light burst from the tip of the blade and struck him square in the face, knocking him to the ground three feet from where he had been standing.

Tank stared at the prone figure for a few seconds before walking up and giving the man a kick to the ribs; upon receiving no reaction, he turned to Sunset and grinned. “Hey, nice shot!”

Adrenaline now ebbing from her system, Sunset began rubbing her shoulder; apparently her still aching muscles didn’t appreciate the strain of swinging a heavy piece of metal around too much. “…Is he dead?”

“What? Of course not. He’ll definitely be feeling that one when he wakes up, though.” Tank picked up the gun the man had dropped. “Geez, highway bandits? Seriously? Welcome to three hundred years ago.” He glanced over at Sunset. “C'mon, we should get moving in case any more show up. He was probably drawn here by that light from before, same as I was.”

Sunset returned the sword to its sheath, placed it back in the trunk next to the gun Tank confiscated, and climbed into the passenger side of the car. With a roar of the engine, they took off.

It was quiet for a little while once they were on the road, which gave Sunset a chance to think… well, for all the good  _that_  would do; the questions filling her head were like jigsaw puzzles missing their boxes as well as half the pieces. Where were Twilight and the others? Did they end up in the same world? How was she supposed to find them? Even if she did, would they have any way back home? She slumped in her seat and crossed her arms.

“So was that your first time handling an enchantment, then?” Tank’s question was a welcome distraction. “If so, you picked it up faster than anyone I’ve seen; it took me  _ages_  to get that beam to work, and you got it in one try.”

“Uh… yeah, I guess.” Sunset sat back up a bit. “Was that what you meant for me to do?”

“We didn’t have time for a more detailed plan, so I was hoping you’d improvise. Trust me, I was not disappointed.”

An unfamiliar landscape flew by out the window.

“Anyway.” Tank continued. “For what it’s worth… welcome to Nexus, I guess. I promise most of us aren’t like Bandit McAmbushface back there.”

The joke barely registered in Sunset’s mind.

“Hey, you alright?”

This caught her attention. Her gaze shifted over to Tank just in time to see him turn back to the road - evidently, he had been watching her for a short while. Her first instinct was to be dismissive, considering she wasn’t terribly keen on opening up to someone she’d just met… but then, she  _had_  read his memories without asking; even if he seemed fine with it after the fact, it still felt sort of rude in hindsight.

“I’m just tired. Everything’s been happening so quickly…” Feeling like a hypocrite would be worse for her mood than talking about her feelings with some guy who seemed genuine enough, Sunset decided. “I’m worried about my friends. I have no idea where they ended up, or how any of us are supposed to get home… assuming it’s even possible in the first place.” She gave another annoyed huff. “Plus I’m still sore from… landing, I guess? I went straight from that weird space behind the portal to waking up in the dirt.”

“Well, that’s all fair enough, I suppose.” Tank shrugged, chuckling to himself. “It is the middle of the night here and all, and we’ll be on the road for a good few hours - there’s a pillow on the seat behind you if you wanted to try getting some sleep. Don’t worry, the pillowcase is clean.”

After a moment of hesitation, Sunset reached behind her to retrieve it, but ended up setting it in her lap as Tank spoke again.

“Oh, but first - if you don’t mind, would you help me with something really quick? We should probably give the lab a heads-up that we’re on our way.”

“Uh, sure.” Sunset glanced around. “How do we do that?”

Tank flipped a switch on the dashboard, activating a series of tiny lights that illuminated the instrument panels. In the prior darkness, Sunset hadn’t noticed that the panel in front of her featured several dials, switches, and meters, and began looking it over curiously.

“The radio’s always in front of the passenger seat,” Tank explained. “See those four dials there? Turn those to 34, 7, 21, and 29 in order, then press the square switch at the end.”

Sunset did as instructed, watching the mechanical readout tick by until the correct numbers lined up before pressing the switch, which recessed into place with an audible  _click_. Quiet radio static now filled the air.

“Event Horizon? This is Abrams,” Tank declared. “Are Penny or the Doc around? I have someone here I think they’ll want to meet.”

After a pause, someone on the other end began to speak. “Tank? Uh… what’s your ETA? We’re a little busy with, uh… a 619 at the moment. I’ve never seen Doc so excited, he might not, uh… want to spare any time on anything else.”

Tank hesitated a moment before sighing. “Okay… what was a 619 again? I don’t remember all your protocol codes.”

“A humanoid creature came through the on-site portal,” the radio voice explained. “We’ve, uh… established peaceful communications, but the situation’s still a little tense. I’d recommend staying clear for at least - ”

“What kind of creature?” Sunset demanded. “Was it a teenage girl with long hair and pony ears?”

There was a long pause. “Uh… yeah, but like, I have no idea how you - ”

“Let me talk to her  _right now!_ ” Sunset’s knuckles went white from fiercely gripping the pillow in her lap.

The attendant on the other end of this conversation was clearly far from prepared for Sunset’s fervor, as it took them another several seconds to reply. “I’ll… see if I can patch you through to the, uh… conference room.”

A few seconds of static later, an entirely different voice came from the radio. This one was rather high-pitched, somewhat nasal, and positively dripping with thinly-veiled impatience. “ - supposed to hold all my transmissions during a 619… Look, I’m in the middle of an unparalleled breakthrough, so unless this is vitally urgent, I’d like to ask you to call back another time.”

“If you insist, Doctor Mobius.” Tank shrugged, knowing full well the gesture wouldn’t carry over the radio. “I mean, I was gonna tell you all about my new friend Sunset Shimmer and how she’s  _orange_  and has  _pony ears_  and is  _real interested_  in talking to someone I know you’ve got in that conference room with you… but if you insist.” He gave Sunset a knowing wink. “Go ahead, Sunset. Hit the switch again to end the call.”

“Wait! Wait, don’t hang up yet!” pleaded a new voice. “Sunset, are you there? Please say something!”

“Twilight!”

A wave of relief washed over Sunset as she recognized her friend’s voice.

“Sunset! Oh, I was so worried when we got separated…” Twilight punctuated this with a series of sniffles before continuing. “A-Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where are you?”

Sunset hugged the pillow to hide her excited grin. “I’m fine! We’re on our way to you right now, but we’re still a few hours away. I’ll tell you more when we get there.”

“We?” Twilight sounded hopeful. “Does that mean the others are with you?”

Sunset hesitated. “…No. I have no idea where they are.”

Another sniffle. “Oh…”

Sunset took a deep breath. “Don’t worry, I’ll be there soon. We’ll figure out what to do then, okay?”

“Alright…” Twilight’s reluctance to end the conversation was almost palpable. “Be careful.”

“That goes for you as well, Abrams,” Mobius added, his earlier frustration replaced with a much more careful tone. “I, ah, apologize for my earlier impudence. Please make all due haste?”

“We’ll be fine, Doc. I’ll see you in about eight hours. Abrams out.” Tank nodded at Sunset, who slowly pressed the switch again. With that, the radio fell silent.

Sunset slumped in her seat, still hugging the pillow. It stung a little telling Twilight she hadn’t found the others, but knowing even one of her friends was still alive had lifted some of the gloom from her heart. Everything else could wait - she needed to focus on what she could do right now, not what was still out of reach. If they were going to get out of this in one piece, it would be one step at a time.

The first step, Sunset decided as she nuzzled into the pillow now pressed against the door beside her, would be getting some much-needed sleep…


	4. 04: Nuts and Bolts

“…and the spare key should be on the nightstand. If you need anything, the intercom is on the wall here.”

Twilight fiddled with her glasses. “Um… thanks.”

“Sleep well!” With that, the attendant left the room, the door closing quietly after.

Twilight’s eyes scanned the sparsely decorated room. It reminded her of a college dormitory: a bed, a nightstand, a desk, and a dresser were all the furniture provided.

She wandered into the attached bathroom. Like the room proper, it was fairly small, but at least featured everything essential. She glanced over the bathtub and briefly considered taking a shower, but decided she wasn’t all that keen on changing back into her dirty clothes afterward. Instead, she settled for looking herself over in the mirror for a moment, confirming what she had already assumed: yes, she did look just about as tired as she felt, her hair askew and her smudged glasses only barely hiding the dark color under her eyes.

Sighing, Twilight flopped face-first onto the bed. She wasn’t sure whether it had been the journey through the portal, everything that had happened afterward, or some combination of the two, but she couldn’t remember the last time she had felt nearly this exhausted… and it would be several hours yet before Sunset arrived, so spending at least some of the intervening time asleep sounded like the best idea she had heard all day. With a subtle wave of her hand, her glasses floated off her face and came to rest on the nightstand as she settled in on top of the covers.

…As it turns out, trying to sleep when you’re not used to having wings poking out of your back is somewhat difficult. It took several moments of tossing and turning for her to find a suitably comfortable position and close her eyes.

“…”

The only problem: she couldn’t sleep.

To be fair… after all that had just happened, how could she? With nothing else to focus on, Twilight’s mind raced, still trying its best to process the events of the past few hours…

* * *

“611! Repeat, we have a code 611! Doctor, report to the portal room immediately!”

Still disoriented from her trip through the void, Twilight struggled to shake the fog from her brain and take stock of the situation. Information trickled over her consciousness like water from a leaky faucet.

She looked to be inside a very large building, one that reminded her of a warehouse with its painted brick walls, corrugated metal ceiling, stacks of wooden crates here and there, and some large machinery here and there.

She was a few feet off the ground, but how? Oh, wings, okay… but how was she all pony-ified already? Her hazy brain couldn’t seem to tell her when that had happened.

“What is it? What’s it doing?”  
“Look at those wings! That’s so cool!”  
“Protocol, people! Stay back! This could be dangerous!”

Several people began yelling things, which immediately drew her attention. Looking below, she spotted four humans nearby, watching her intently. Each one held something in their hands, various objects pointed at her that looked - WAIT IS THAT A GUN

In a panic, Twilight swung her arm upward in an arc, a purple glow enveloping all four of them as telekinetic force lifted them into the air and ripped their weapons from their hands. In the same motion, she closed her hand sharply, causing each of the confiscated weapons to snap in half with the sound of splintering wood and creaking metal.

“Marvelous…!”

Standing before a set of double doors thrown wide open were two people in lab coats. The taller of the two looked quite strange - his skin was pale as a ghost, his ears were strangely long and pointy, and his thick glasses must have been obscuring his eyes in some way because Twilight could have sworn they were entirely white, featuring neither irises nor pupils. He seemed to be staring at her in awe, oblivious to anything else in the room.

The second was a girl with dark skin whose curly hair was tied back in a ponytail - not unlike Twilight’s own, but significantly shorter. Unlike her companion, her eyes shifted rapidly around the room, quickly noticing the people Twilight still held in midair as well as their ruined weapons on the floor nearby.

“Simply marvelous,” the pointy-eared man repeated. “I’ve never seen such powers before… Oh, where did I leave my clipboard? I simply must begin taking notes immediately!”

“W-Who are you? Where am I?” Twilight demanded, finally finding her voice. “What happened to my friends?”

The pointy-eared man gasped, suddenly beaming. “It speaks our language? Oh, this is unprecedented!”

“Uncle, focus!” his companion snapped. “Save your gawking for later - we have a situation to defuse!”

As Twilight watched, the girl straightened her collar a bit and began walking slowly and purposefully toward her, her demeanor completely different; where she had been all business just a moment ago, she now seemed much… softer, for lack of a better word. “Don’t worry… I promise we’re not going to hurt you.” Now that she was a bit closer, she looked barely older than Twilight herself. “My name is Penny. What’s yours?”

“T-Twi… Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight found herself making eye contact with a nearby crate much more readily than she could manage with this girl.

“That’s a beautiful name.” Penny’s smile grew. “Miss Sparkle, I’m here to help you… but I’d like you to do a favor for me first, okay?”

Twilight hesitated, still glancing about the room.

“I need you to put our guards down,” Penny explained, her hands folded in front of her. “I’m sure they’re sorry for scaring you.”

Now it was Twilight’s turn to gasp; she hadn’t meant to hold onto them this long. As slowly and gently as she could manage, she lowered them back to the ground.

“Thank you!” Penny stepped closer. “Do you want to come down so we can talk? I’ll do my best to answer any questions you may have, but this isn’t the best place for it.”

Twilight descended one wingbeat at a time, landing somewhat clumsily on the floor below.

“Ah, and before I forget… this man here is my uncle, Doctor Darian Mobius.” At this, she sighed quietly and turned toward him. “ _That_  is how you handle a 611, uncle. Now it’s a much more manageable 619 instead.”

“Hoho! Splendid work as always, my dear Penny. What  _would_  I do without you?” Dr. Mobius chuckled, poking the bridge of his glasses to adjust them. “In any case… now that our guest has been sufficiently mollified, perhaps she would like to accompany us to the conference room? I have ever so many questions to ask!”

“Are you hungry, Miss Sparkle?” Penny asked, largely ignoring her uncle. “If you tell us about your diet, perhaps we can accommodate.”

“Thank you, but…” Twilight rubbed her elbow and looked back at the portal, swirling ominously in the air behind her. In spite of the hospitality, something felt very wrong. “My friends… W-We all got pulled into the portal together,” she explained. They had to know something, hadn’t they? “Has anyone else been through here?”

The two scientists stared at Twilight for a few seconds before exchanging blank looks.

Penny shook her head. “I’m sorry… you were the only one.”

“Oh.” Twilight’s heart sank.

“But… is that really true? You all entered the portal together, but didn’t end up at the same destination?” Penny looked worryingly over at her uncle.

Twilight swallowed hard. “Y-Yes… why?”

Dr. Mobius adjusted his glasses again. “I’m afraid that’s… impossible.”

* * *

Impossible…

The word echoed in Twilight’s mind. Obviously that couldn’t be right; Sunset was already on her way to prove them wrong… but what did it mean? Thinking about it only made her worry more. What if something catastrophically bad was happening that even these experienced scientists wouldn’t be able to solve?

Groaning, she sat up and raised a hand to her head. Trying to sleep was getting her nowhere, obviously. Maybe a walk would help her clear her head? Assuming no one minded her wandering about, that is.

Slipping the spare key into her pocket, Twilight snuck through the door, closing it behind her as quietly as she could.

“Can’t sleep?”

Startled, Twilight whirled around to find Penny leaning against the wall.

“Y-Yeah… sorry.” Twilight fidgeted with the end of her skirt. “I was hoping a walk would help calm my nerves.”

“I guess I can’t blame you. It’s been a pretty eventful few hours.” Penny approached her slowly. “You really shouldn’t wander the lab by yourself though. Would you like me to show you around?”

A smile slowly grew on Twilight’s face. “Yes please! I’d love to learn more about what you study here.”

“Great!” Penny motioned for Twilight to follow her down the hallway. “Let’s start with the senior offices, they’re just down here…”


	5. 05: Digdirt

“Ow, oof, ooh, ow, ouch!”

Rarity found herself tumbling across rough stone, stopping only when she collided with a wall several yards away.

“Ohhhhhh… I think I’m going to be ill. And now my skirt is all scuffed up, too…” Carefully shifting into a sitting position, she raised a hand to her head and gingerly rubbed the spot where it had thumped against the wall, her fingers lightly brushing a furry ear in the process.

“Hmm?”

Rarity paused, patting the top of her head curiously. Yup, those were definitely her pony ears. “Wait, when did I…?”

Her sentence trailed off as she finally caught sight of her surroundings. What appeared to be a cave carved out of sandstone stretched in two directions before her; daylight shone from one, while the portal glowed softly in the darkness of the other, tilted slightly as though leaning casually against the wall.

Carefully so as not to irritate her already upset stomach, Rarity braced herself against the wall and climbed to her feet. There was no one else in the cave with her, but how could that be? Pinkie had been right in front of her as they’d fallen into that strange red-and-black space.

“Pinkie?” Hand against the wall for safety, Rarity made her way toward the bright end of the cave. “Pinkie Pie, where are you?”

It wasn’t long before she reached the end… and the sight before her made her gasp.

The rocky slope on which she now stood ended only a few feet down, to be replaced with a vast desert that stretched as far as Rarity could see. Occasional outcroppings of sandstone like the one in which she had appeared were the only landmarks in the endless sea of sand. While the cave had been relatively cool, the daylight felt like a heat ray against her skin; in seconds, she was already sweating. Pinkie was nowhere to be seen.

Rarity retreated back into the shade of the cave and took a deep breath. “Alright, Rarity: focus. You’re officially in a survival situation, and you need to figure out what to do next to maximize your chances of… well… surviving.” With that, she began slowly pacing back and forth.

“Let’s see now… Option one, return to the portal.” She glanced back at it for hardly a second before scowling and turning up her nose. “Absolutely not. It’s what put you here in the first place, and it separated you from Pinkie in doing so; it’s as like as not to send you someplace even worse if you trust it like that.

"Option two, brave the desert and look for help.” Several seconds of staring out at it left her cringing at the prospect. “…Not exactly ideal. You have no supplies of any kind, no sense of direction, and no way to know if there’s even anyone out there in the first place.

"Option three, wait by the portal for your friends to catch up.” Her attention turned back to the portal once again, her scowl threatening to return. “But is that even possible? Again, you and Pinkie have been separated despite entering nearly simultaneously; assuming the rest of your friends did in fact follow you, it seems unlikely for them to wind up here alongside you.

"That means…” She sighed quietly. “…wandering aimlessly in the desert is looking like my best option.” Even so, saying it out loud wasn’t going very far in making it feel like less of a terrible idea. “Oh, and if I don’t find something soon, I’ll probably never get the sweat stains out of my clothes…”

At this, she shook her head. “Now stop that! Your vanity isn’t as important as making it out of this alive,” she scolded. “Although it would be nice to know that if I don’t, I’ll at least still look good for when they find my body.”

The thought made her shiver.

Standing at the edge of the cave, she spent several moments steeling herself before starting out into the desert proper.

* * *

Sweat poured from Rarity’s brow, slowly drenching her top as she trudged across the sand. She had rather quickly begun regretting her decision; the further she walked, the clearer it became that there was nothing here but rocks and sand. At the very least, she had passed by a few varieties of cacti, meaning the place wasn’t completely devoid of life. Hopefully, that was a good sign.

With no food or water and no shield against the heat, the best she could do was to rest in the shade of a rock every few minutes, but this didn’t provide much in the way of relief.

“Ugh, why couldn’t it have dropped me off at a spa instead? This place is dreadful.”

It also wasn’t doing much for her mood.

Knowing full well it wasn’t a terrific use of her dwindling energy, she gave the sand a frustrated kick. “I’m hot, I’m tired, I’m thirsty, I’m horribly sweaty… come on now, I just need - AAAAAAUGH”

Rarity fell to her knees, screaming as she felt the stinger plunge into her thigh. A perfectly sand-colored scorpion almost a yard long, far larger than any she could have imagined, emerged from its hiding place just beneath where she had kicked.

Trying to climb to her feet only caused her to stumble and yelp as pain shot through her body from the effort of putting weight on her injured leg. There would be no running.

But she could still defend herself.

With a wave of her arm, Rarity intended to summon a crystalline shield to shove the scorpion away. What she got instead was rather different: a hail of razor sharp crystal shards materialized over her head and plunged themselves into the creature’s body, piercing its carapace en masse like bullets shattering glass.

Oily black fluids oozed from the scorpion’s body, staining the sand as it twitched for a moment before finally lying still.

Gasping for air as though she had just run a marathon, Rarity clutched at her leg, now swollen and bleeding where she had been stung. The world around her began shifting in and out of focus as her vision blurred and everything started spinning.

“Well, it was… worth a shot… I suppose…”

She spotted something else moving out of the corner of her eye, but by this point she was too exhausted to care. She just needed sleep.

Sleep, then everything will be fine.

Sleep…

* * *

Cool.

Everything felt so refreshingly cool.

Did that mean she was dead, then? No matter, so long as she was free of the desert and the heat and the scorpions…

Wait, no - of course it mattered! What was she thinking? She couldn’t just leave her friends behind like that…

Rarity opened her eyes. They expressed their disdain for this by taking their sweet time focusing on her surroundings, but eventually gave in a few seconds of blinking later.

Was this… a hospital room? It looked like it had been designed on a fairly tight budget, featuring little more than a countertop, some shelves, an electric fan pointed at her, and the bed on which she now lay. Her clothes were hung up on a rack, pristine and spotless as the day she’d made them.

Wait a minute…

Still a bit dizzy, she took her time sitting up, a wet cloth falling from her forehead and landing in her lap as she did so. Looking down, she quickly discovered she had been reduced to her underwear. A large bandage wound around her thigh covered the spot where the scorpion had stung her. A cursory glance later, she found a second, smaller bandage on her upper arm.

Someone was taking care of her. Against what were likely ridiculous odds, someone had found her out there and rescued her.

As if on cue, the door at the other end of the room opened partway to permit a rather strange-looking girl. She didn’t seem to pay Rarity much mind at first, instead brushing a strand of blue hair out of her darkly tanned face, hooking it behind a pointy ear as she peered at the clipboard she was carrying.

Rarity opened her mouth to speak, but quickly realized she had too many questions and no idea where to start. “Er…?”

The girl’s eyes lit up as they met Rarity’s. In an instant, she tore the top sheet of paper from her clipboard, slapped it down on the counter behind her, produced a pen from the pocket of her poorly fitting nurse’s uniform, and began scribbling furiously.

“So… you wouldn’t happen to be…?” Rarity began.

The girl looked up from her writing for only barely long enough to hold up one finger; Rarity simply watched. A few more seconds later, she held out the clipboard for Rarity to take, rushing from the room once again as soon as it had left her hands.

_i’m so glad you’re awake!! don’t worry, you’re perfectly safe here!_

_my name is miri and you’re at me and my mom’s clinic! you’re suffering from heat exhaustion and a nasty dose of scorpion venom, lucky i found you in time! i have lots and lots of questions but they can wait till you feel a little better okay??_

_i’ll be right back, i need to get you some water because you’re really dehydrated BUT DRINK IT REALLY SLOWLY or it might upset your tummy!_

The girl returned not long afterward with a tall glass of water that Rarity had to resist the urge to chug as quickly as possible.

“Hah… thank you, er… Miri.”

Miri beamed.

“Oh…” Rarity figured she already knew the answer, but it was still worth trying. “Did you happen to see anyone else out in the desert? Anyone, well… like me, perhaps?” Her pony ears twitched to emphasize the point.

Miri gave a silent gasp and drafted a response as quickly as she could.  _is someone else out there? oh no i’m so sorry! i went to investigate the bright light i saw way out in the desert but all i found was you… should i go looking again??_

Rarity shook her head sadly. “No, that’s not necessary, dear! We got separated after we fell into the portal, so…” She paused, turning to look out the window. “I… feel like she probably ended up somewhere far away. I’m not sure how I know that, but…”

Miri held out the clipboard.  _ ~~YOU CAME THROUGH THE POR~~  no, we should talk about that later. i’m really sorry about your friend :( you’re welcome to stay here until you get better! i should go tell mom you’re awake so we can make you some food!! are you hungry?_

“That would be lovely, thank you!” Rarity smiled, but it was short-lived. “Oh, but… I don’t have any way to repay you for your care.”

She found herself staring at Miri’s uniform while she awaited the next written response. Not only was it clearly too big for her, but the stitching on the seams was uneven… and the whole thing was such a drab color to boot! Yet she had so expertly laundered Rarity’s clothes for her until not a hint of sweat stain remained…

Was there such a thing as an idea that was  _too_  perfect? Rarity hoped not.

“Actually,” she found herself saying, “hold that thought. Did you make that uniform yourself?”

Miri blinked, crossing out her old response and starting over.  _yes… i’m not very good at sewing though ~~and we can’t afford~~  so it was the best i could do_

Rarity smirked and leaned forward. “What if I offered to make you and your mother an entire line of brand new uniforms?”

Miri stared at Rarity’s clothes for several seconds before responding.  _you can do that??_

“Of course, darling! Picture it - the perfect blend of style and substance! Functional yet fashionable, durable yet dazzling! I promise you’ll love them, or my name isn’t Rarity!” At this, she paused. “…Which it is. I may have neglected to mention that,” she added with a sheepish grin.

Miri beamed the entire time she spent writing.  _your name is really pretty <3 that would be wonderful, miss rarity! thank you!! i’ll go talk to mom for a bit and be back with something for you to eat :) :)_

After an affirming nod from Rarity, Miri left the room, grinning from ear to pointy ear.

The moment she was gone, Rarity let her own smile drop.

It wouldn’t do to dwell on what she couldn’t control. By all accounts, she seemed to be fairly well stuck here - wherever ‘here’ even was - and it sounded like her friends were nowhere to be found. But fashion! She always had a handle on that.

“You’ve been lucky so far,” she told herself. “Let’s ride that luck as far as it’ll go and show this world just what Rarity is made of!”


End file.
